Pulp look set to release new music after signing with Rough Trade
Pulp have announced they have officially signed to Rough Trade Records, which further indicates that the band is keen on releasing new music.
In a social media post on 12th December, the band posted the news that they would be signing to the label. “Rough Trade have managed Pulp for over 30 years,” they wrote, “So it feels great to be finally on the label. We did it!”
While the rationale for the sudden signing to Rough Trade remains unclear, the shift could reflect that the band are keen on releasing new music. It wouldn’t come as a surprise if they did; after announcing going on a reunion tour in 2023, the band made out as if this could be a last hurrah, proclaiming before every set, “This is what we do an encore,” a homage to their track ‘This Is Hardcore’.
In the months and years that have passed since that first reunion show, though, it appears Pulp aren’t willing to call it a day just yet. They were recently announced as the Friday headliners for Sheffield’s Tramlines Festival. In addition to playing the headline slot, they have curated a line-up for that day, which includes a mix of talent, including local punk icons Femur and neo-psyche legends Spiritualized.
Pulp has previously discussed writing new material after such an elongated hiatus. In an interview with NME last month, Mark Webber described the writing process as “natural.”
“It’s just what we do. I don’t know. We just avoided it for a while,” he said, “If anyone started to play something different then someone would tell them to stop! There’s a reluctance about opening the box without knowing what would come out. Now there are some songs and we’ve enjoyed playing them. I don’t know what will happen now.”
While the future of this new material may have seemed unclear at the time of Webber’s interview, by signing to Rough Trade, it is clear that the band intends to release something soon. Nothing has been officially confirmed yet, but it’s unlikely Pulp would agree to an entire record deal if the intention were merely to re-release old albums and continue touring.
“I don’t know if we think of it as ‘A body of work’ yet because we haven’t done anything with it,” said Webber, “We’ve not reflected on it, we’re just enjoying doing it. We’re older so it’s a bit more mature, but that makes it sound boring! It’s somewhere between mature and frothy pop music.”
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